when you have nothing to offer God

With nothing to do, no one with me, and no direction to go, I get in my car and start driving.

First there’s mumbling, then yelling. And then the screaming starts. I slam my hands on my steering wheel. A few choice words tumble out.

Life isn’t supposed to happen like this. Things were going well. I was building good habits, feeling in control of my spiritual and physical health. Plans and goals filled my mind and my calendar. I liked the direction life was going.

And then, out of nowhere, a road block pops up. And then more.

What starts out as a red light or two in those goals becomes a total detour and major delay. Plans and direction change or cancel completely. Which way was I even going? Other people seem to be calmly getting to where they want to go, no problems in sight. What am I doing wrong?

Suddenly you find yourself literally in the middle of nowhere in your car, screaming in frustration because you feel so powerless.

Nothing you have on your own will get you out of this. No skills or experience or know-how solve the problems. Making things change seems impossible. No amount of control or motivation or foresight sees you through the storm.

I feel utterly helpless.

Which makes me angry. And in my rage, what feels like the best option is to get away from it all and scream. But even that doesn’t solve my troubles for long.

Somewhere as the temper tantrum fades, I sense a nudge to pray. Sheepishly, and with everything clogging up my head, all I can think of to say is: “God, I have nothing. I can’t do anything. I have absolutely nothing to give.”

And then, as it often does when we run out of words, the Holy Spirit keeps whispering. It talks to God for us, and it talks from God to us. And it says, to my stunned and defeated soul:

“God does his best work with nothing.”

Even as I realize these words didn’t come from me, my mind quickly takes this thought and confirms it with the Word.

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” – Genesis 1:2-3 NIV (emphasis mine).

Light from darkness. Earth and sky and living things from what is formless and empty. He even creates mankind from the “dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7 NIV).

God builds a nation of people from the one son of the childless Abraham and Sarah, who had him at the ages of 100 and 90. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” in Genesis 18:14 NIV.

In the face of the Egyptian army, Moses reminds the helpless Israelites, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14 NIV). And they cross the sea on dry land, while the army is buried beneath it.

And on and on. Battle victories, even being outnumbered. Unbelievable rescues. Miraculous pregnancies – one resulting in the Christ. (P.S. Don’t read into this. Not a pregnancy announcement.) Healings of body, mind, and soul.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” – Romans 5:6 NIV (emphasis mine).

God can obviously work through any situation, anything.

But man oh man – does he shine when we have nothing.

The lie: “You are what you have to offer.”

You’re only worth as much as you bring to the table. You have nothing to give? You are nothing. Take control. Do better. Make it happen.

God says the opposite. He wants our nothing. He begs us to reach out to him with nothing in our hands, and he longs to fill those hands with good things.

This is how he loves to work. It means he can work beyond our limited expectations, perspectives and timelines. He’s unencumbered by our desire to control things or prove ourselves.

Sometimes nothing is all I have to give.

I can’t do anything but watch from a distance. It isn’t in me to accomplish a task or do the right thing or be enough in and of myself. I can’t.

It doesn’t take away my responsibility. I can always control my attitude, my effort, and my decision to do the right thing where I can. Sure, he can work through the talents and experiences he gave me.

But when road blocks are all around, I have nothing to do but trust the God who is for me, the God who makes me enough, the God who guides me. Where I can’t, he can.

My palms are open. On a road of detours and delays and dead ends, I can only offer my nothing to God.

But this time, instead of believing that God is rolling his eyes, I imagine him rolling up his sleeves. He’s rubbing his hands together, preparing the miracle.

How about you?

What miracles have you seen God work that you never saw coming? What has he done when you can’t?

ALSO out of nowhere, after this post was written, I was curious to see if others had written about this topic. I found two incredible posts from Lisa Morgan Moore and One Thing Alone that are similar, but their own personal takes. The Spirit is definitely moving hearts with the message that we can offer God our nothing, and he can do incredible things with it!

Photo Credit:

1 – averie woodard on Unsplash

2 – Alex Chernenko on Unsplash

3 – Raychan on Unsplash